Happy Carrot Day

Happy Carrot Day

Date: 04 Apr 2017

Carrot Day is celebrated every year on 4th April, and is the perfect day to show and share your love for the orange vegetable!

As we are big lovers of the carrot at Bright Horizons, we have got some yummy recipes for you to try!

Skinny carrot chips

Helping you eat healthy and eating more carrots, turn your chips into carrot chips! Plus, it is super simple to make; all you need are some carrots, 1 tablespoon of cornflower, 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, some tarragon and a pinch of black pepper.

Heat your oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Cut carrots into a chip shape, about 1cm thick, and mix with cornflour and a little black pepper. Toss with vegetable oil and place on a baking tray lined with parchment, and bake for 40-45 mins, turning halfway. Mix a little salt with tarragon and toss through the cooked chips when serving.

Spiced carrot soup

Add some heat to your lunch with this spiced carrot soup.

You will need:

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 onion

1 garlic clove

1 red chilli

1 tsp mild curry powder

1kg carrots

400g can coconut milk

700ml vegetable stock

Method: Heat the oil in a large pan with a lid. Tip in the onion, garlic and chilli, then cook for 3-5 mins until soft. Stir in the curry powder, followed by the carrots, then cover and cook over a low heat for 10 minutes. Give the coconut milk can a shake, then pour most of it into the pan along with the vegetable stock. Bring to the boil, then turn down and simmer for 15 mins until the carrots are really soft. Use a stick blender or food processor to whizz until smooth. Ladle into bowls and top with a swirl of reserved coconut milk and an extra sprinkling of curry powder, if you like it super hot!

Carrot cake

Queen of cakes Mary Berry has the below recipe for a delicious carrot and walnut cake!

You will need:

250 ml sunflower oil

4 large eggs

225 g light muscovado sugar

200 g carrots, grated

300 g self-raising flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp ground ginger

75 g walnuts, chopped, plus 8 halves to decorate

50 g butter, at room temperature

25 g icing sugar

250 g full-fat cream cheese

A few drops of vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Grease two deep 20cm round sandwich tins and line the bases of the cake tins with baking parchment. Put the oil, eggs, and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Whisk until the mixture is well combined, lighter, and noticeably thickened. Gently fold the carrot into the cake batter, then stir in the flour, baking powder, mixed spice, ginger, and chopped walnuts until evenly blended. Spoon the mixture evenly between the tins. Put the cakes in the oven and bake for about 35 minutes, or until golden brown, risen, and shrinking away from the sides of the tins. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

For the icing: Put the butter, icing sugar, cream cheese and vanilla extract in a bowl and whisk using a hand or electric whisk until smooth and thoroughly blended. Spread half the icing on one cake, sit the other cake on top, and spread the remaining icing on top to make a swirl pattern. Decorate the top of the cake with the halved walnuts.